Keep Bailing

ORANGE COUNTY, CA — If you are ever in the area of Pacific Coast Highway and Huntington Streets, be warned of recent sobriety checkpoints. Hopefully, you will have read this and haven’t just left happy hour or a happy birthday for that matter after downing a few cosmos or even one beer. (If so, stop reading your email while driving!) Police have been screening cars and have been administering field sobriety tests in the O.C. area. 

Officials saw more than 1300 cars at the PCH checkpoint between 9:30 pm and 2:30 am, which has led to the arrest of 11 drivers suspected of DUI. Additionally, Read more »

In an opinion published in the Orange County Register Thursday, Bill Hunt discusses the controversial decision by Sheriff Sandra Hutchens to offer criminals early release from jail.

The decision to “cite and release” inmates from Orange County jails has led to over 400 criminals being put back onto the streets without having to post bail or provide any further court guarantees. Many of the inmates who are released this way flee. This ‘unsafe practice’ has been put into action and instituted by the court in an effort to relieve jail overcrowding. However, it is said that the overcrowding issue no longer exists, as there are 1,400 open jail beds.

As a function of the criminal justice system, Read more »

As of this Tuesday, all inmates who are now booked into Orange County jails will have their immigration status checked via fingerprint identification. Prior to this, the inmates were screened by specially trained deputies upon arrival and those who were found to be foreign born had their immigration status checked even further.

Orange County jail officials will join 11 other California county jails such as Los Angeles, San Diego and Ventura which have already implemented procedures for checking the identification of inmates using a federal database to identify immigrants who land in their jails.

A national database, which Read more »

Santa Ana — In continued controversy over early release of inmates, an Orange County Superior Court judge has decided against Sheriff deputy union members, denying their request Thursday to halt the early release of Orange County inmates.

Reportedly, Judge Steven Perk wants the final decision left in the hands of Sheriff Sandra Hutchens stating, “How do I issue an order to the board of supervisors telling the sheriff how to run the jail… if I don’t have jurisdiction over that person, then I don’t have the authority.”

The Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs wanted to put a stop Read more »

Everything you always wanted to know about Orange County’s Police

Television’s “The O.C.” and “Real Housewives” may have put Orange County California on the media map, but Orange County Police Departments have an interesting history that dates back to the Wild West.  The county can trace its beginnings back to 1887, when silver was discovered in the Santa Ana Mountains, attracting settlers. As people came to California in droves, seeking their fortunes or just to settle and build a new life, the California Legislator was overwhelmed by the influx of these new arrivals. 

And so, they decided to divide Los Angeles County into two back in 1899, creating Orange County as a separate political entity. The county is supposedly named after –what else — oranges, but since they already had a town named Orange here, the county may have been named for this city.  Like many other places in the west, law enforcement was conducted by sheriffs and marshals until the needs of these settlements grew too big for just a few good men to handle.  And so, OC law enforcement also expanded and grew into more sophisticated, full fledged Police Departments.

Orange County also happens to be the smallest county in Southern California. But despite its size, it has many police departments and they Read more »

At 2:05 on Sunday morning, a man who was allegedly drunk, drove his late model Mercedes through the front gate of an Irvine jail and then fought with a Sheriff’s Department sergeant who was on duty there, according to the Orange County Register.

Matthew Van McDaniel plowed into the James A. Musick Jail and got out of his car, which he left in gear, still running.  The car then hit a tree on the jail campus.

McDaniel, who makes his living as a dancer, managed to successfully pirouette away from the sergeant he attacked, but other deputies soon arrested him on the spot.

“It’s the first time Read more »

Thanks to the economic downturn, over 500 job seekers applied for civilian work in the Orange County jail system, forcing the OC Sheriff’s Department to cut off applications just 36 hours after opening them last month.

Sheriff’s officials were hoping to get enough people to sign up for the next class of correctional services assistants, said spokesman John McDonald, but the rate that they got them: “Surprised a lot of us here.” The class, which only has 50 seats, educates civilian employees in how to assist sworn personnel at the jails.

The pay scale Read more »

It’s called capping — and it’s occurring at the Orange County Jail with alarming frequency.  Capping is the practice of one inmate getting kickbacks from a shady bail bond company once he signs up fellow inmates to use their services.

Here’s how it works:  The inmate connected to the bail bond company offers to make three-way calls for other inmates willing to use their services.  Anyone who isn’t interested is intimidated until he changes his mind.  As reported by the Orange County Register, no less than eight witnesses, all of them arrestees at the jail, recently testified about this illegal practice to both the OC Sheriff’s department and the OC Bail Agents Association.

Each witness was interviewed by private investigator Bill Hunt, a former Sheriff’s Lieutenant currently running for Orange County Sheriff.  Hunt’s subsequent report alleges that some prisoners have bullied others regarding the company they should use for posting their bail.  Hunt also discovered that someone who had access to booking information was passing telephone numbers on to these same bail companies, who then in turn called the prisoners’ family members to pay up.

One woman, Read more »

Last week, the James A. Musick Jail, a 100-acre detention facility in Irvine better known as “The Farm”, shut down its East Compound.  According to the Orange County Register, Orange County authorities are hoping to save $1 million by doing so.  The move is yet another example of the economic challenges faced by the OC, a community that normally enjoys quite a reputation as the poster child for California affluence.

The OC Sheriff’s Department has had $20 million cut from its budget this year and more than $65 million is still expected to be slashed. “It is essential that we continue to evaluate our operation and identify potential cost savings.” Sheriff Sandra Hutchens said in a written statement.  She also promised the closure would not Read more »

Oh, the ever weaving web of criminal ways in the jail system. Even honest bail bondsmen, who help people get out of jail and provide a necessary public service can’t seem to escape it. 

It seems there are inmates behind bars in Orange County, aptly called “shot callers.” These people are known associates of criminal gangs who are allegedly allowed by OC jail guards to run certain areas of the jail. They believed by some to be running an elaborate bail bonds scheme. 

Reportedly, these “shot callers,” tell defendants to go see certain ‘preferred’ bail bondsman for their bond. Once these defendants have been bailed out, the “shot callers” are in-turn, given ‘kickbacks;’ a percentage of the bail money from certain dishonest bail bondsmen.

However, there are three Orange County bail agencies who are not taking this illegal practice Read more »